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Dear Christian friends,

Yesterday, under a bright late-winter sun, I stood on the banks of the Red
River.  As I watched the river flowing peacefully between Grand Forks,
North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, I couldn't help but compare
this serene afternoon with the horrendous weather a year ago.  Last year
record-breaking devastating blizzards were killing hundreds of thousands of
cattle in North and South Dakota.  And eleven months ago this serene river
rose three feet above the deck of the bridge connecting "the Forks,"
destroying hundreds of homes in these communities and causing the
evacuation of over 50,000 people.

I spoke with Jeff and Cindy Kavadas, and their three daughters, Nikki,
Jenna, and Krissy.  Jeff, a master sergeant on the Grand Forks police
force, described how the rising waters caused them to evacuate to Grandma
in Minnesota.  Driving across the bridge, they heard on the radio that the
dike had broken and their town had flooded.  It was six weeks before they
could return from Minnesota.  The river had crested at 57 feet, and their
house was surrounded by water...water to the top of their basement ceiling,
water that had destroyed two basement bedrooms and clothing and precious
memories.  For seven more weeks Jeff and Cindy, their three daughters, and
two dogs, lived in one room at a nearby hotel while cleanup efforts began.
During a casual conversation, a friend asked Jeff if he had contacted
Lutheran Disaster Response for help.  He had not, but he did.  "LDR helped
RIGHT NOW," Jeff said.  Emergency funds helped to pay some bills, and
volunteers began to arrive to help with repairs.  "People came from all
over--Michigan, Iowa, Missouri!  Some used vacation time to come.  Some
were highly skilled, others just pitched in.  It would have taken me three
years to do what they did."  Jeff's three daughters have been sharing one
first floor bedroom since they've returned to their house.  This weekend
they'll be moving into bright, fresh, rebuilt basement bedrooms.  As Jeff
told his story, tears began flowing down his cheeks-quite moving for me to
see happen to a North Dakota police officer.  "Lutheran Disaster Response
put our house and our lives back together again.  LDR has been a real
godsend."

Lutheran Disaster Response has been involved from the very beginning of
this record-shattering disaster.  Working with Lutheran Social Services of
Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, the church has been active
through the emergency and relief stages, and continues to respond in this
long recovery period.  The needs along the Red River are still tremendous.

You can be a real godsend.  Your prayers continue to uphold the hearts and
lives of those who experienced the 1997 blizzards and floods.  Your
contributions continue the ability of Lutheran Disaster Response to be
present in the upper Midwest and to provide essential ministries.  And your
volunteering efforts continue to put houses and lives back together again.

To contribute:  ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
                PO Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764

To volunteer:  1-800-987-0061 (Minnesota and North Dakota)
               1-800-568-2401 (South Dakota)

In Christ,
Gil Furst

GILBERT B. FURST (written on Fri, Mar 20, 1998, at 12:44 am)
Associate Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response
Internet address: [log in to unmask]
For more information, click on our web site:  www.elca.org/dcs/disaster